Mercosur deal 'obviously contradictory' to EU environmental standards - ICMSA
The president of the Irish Creamery and Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA), Denis Drennan has said the EU Commission has found itself in an "absolutely ridiculous and obviously contradictory public position" on environmental standards following the Mercosur deal.
His statement comes following a meeting with EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Inter-institutional Relations, and Trade, Maros Sefcovic today, (Thursday, October 2), in Dublin.
Drennan highlighted that it was not possible for anyone to ignore a situation where the Commission continued to load more and more environmental regulations on its own farmers while simultaneously urging member states to endorse a deal with a trading block in which food production standards and agri-environmental considerations were significantly lower – if they were applied at all.
The ICMSA president stressed that "geopolitical focus" and the "need to find new markets" could not "obscure the most basic fact - Irish and EU farmers are going to continue to have environmental regulations and the associated costs piled up on them, while beef is to be imported from states where environmental considerations are barely acknowledged at all, and certainly not a factor in their farming or food production".
He said: "The plain fact here is that the Mercosur imports will undercut Irish beef in our export markets by being cheaper through their non-observation of production standards and environmental measures.
"The EU Commission knows this and is, apparently, absolutely fine with it. So much for sustainability."
Drennan confirmed that he had put this specific point to the Commissioner this morning and did not "give any credence to their response".
Drennan noted: “We are still in the same position where the EU wants to endorse Mercusor, downplay its impact, exaggerate its benefits, allow more beef imports and suggest additional safeguarding measures that they know, and we certainly know will not work.
"The ICMSA believes that this is a ‘Make Your Mind Up’ moment for EU member states.
"We either go with sustainable farming for all food products sold in the EU and so protect family farms against larger factory-based farms.
"Or we don’t, and stop loading environmental and sustainability regulations onto EU farmers that puts them in a position where they simply cannot compete against lower standard produce," Drennan added.
Stating that the EU Commission has found itself in an "absolutely ridiculous and obviously contradictory public position", Drennan said it was "no-one’s fault but theirs".
He said: “It’s just this simple; there cannot be one rule for the EU’s own farmers and then none for those allowed, even encouraged, to export food to the EU.
"Either we all have the same standards and environmental restrictions, or we all go to the lower, much lower, threshold of the Mercosur states.
"But we can’t have these two contradictory stances by the Commission.
"It’s not possible to reconcile these and therefore ICMSA thinks that Ireland and other food-producing states must continue to signal outright opposition to any endorsement of Mercosur."
